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Cousin Bette (1846) is considered to be Balzac's last great novel, and a key work in his Human Comedy. Set in the Paris of the 1830s and 1840s, it is a complex tale of the devastating effect of violent jealousy and sexual passion.

"Bette is a wronged soul; and when her passion does break, it is, as Balzac says, sublime and terrifying," wrote V. S. Pritchett. A late masterpiece in Balzac's La Com die Humaine, Cousin Bette is the story of a Vosges peasant who rebels against her scornful upper-class relatives,... Read Full Overview

A gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion and treachery, Honor de Balzac's Cousin Bette is translated from the French with an introduction by Marion Ayton Crawford in Penguin Classics.

One day, about the middle of July 1838, one of the carriages, then lately introduced to Paris cabstands, and known as Milords, was driving down the Rue de l'Universite, conveying a stout man of middle height in the uniform of a captain of the National Guard. Among the Paris crowd,... Read Full Overview

Set in mid-19th-century Paris, Cousin Bette tells the story of an unmarried middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended family. Bette works with Val?rie Marneffe, an unhappily married young lady, to seduce and torment a series of men. One of... Read Full Overview

Cousin Bette has been described as Balzac's last great novel and a key work in his Comedie Humaine. Set in the prosperous Paris of Louis-Philippe, it is the story of a jealous woman's campaign of persecution against her own family.

Cousin Bette (1846) is a novel by French author Honor de Balzac. Part of Balzac's La Com die humaine sequence, the novel is recognized as being the author's last fully-realized work, and features several characters who appear elsewhere throughout his legendary... Read Full Overview

One day, about the middle of July 1838, one of the carriages, then lately introduced to Paris cabstands, and known as Milords, was driving down the Rue de l'Universite, conveying a stout man of middle height in the uniform of a captain of the National Guard. Among the Paris crowd,... Read Full Overview

Cousin Bette (1846), long considered Balzac's last great novel, is a key work in his Comedie humaine. Grounded in a meticulous documentation of contemporary France, this tale is set in the prosperous Paris of Louis-Phillipe and details a jealous woman's campaign of persecution... Read Full Overview